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BOOK REVIEW! SELLING 'EM BY THE SACK --- WHITE CASTLE AND THE CREATION OF AMERICAN FOOD by David Gerard Hogan (New York University Press, 1997)

Here's a tome for the times that I never expected to have seen, a book not only about the legendary and downright mythical White Castle restaurants but fast food chains in general. If you are one who still longs for THE GOLDEN AGE OF TEENBO LIVING when things like drive ins were the pinnacle of ranch house culinary desires you just might go for this 'un, at least if you ain't on no diet. 

Judging from what author Hogan has written here White Castle was not just one of the first chains dedicated to getting the hamburger out to the masses but the ones who pretty much made the hamburger respectable. I guess there were other chains out there like Coon Chicken Inn but White Castle concentrated on mini-burgers, the kind they call "sliders" these days, and they sure knew how to market their wares at the kind of people who would want a nice cheap meal and were subsisting on depression-era wages. White Castle also knew where to set up and which demographics to aim their patties at, and not only did it work but others copied the strategy and did even better with it. It is unfortunate that White Castle remains a relatively small enterprise while all them others merged into all sorts of conglomerates that seem downright evil, but they sure do need the huzzahs for creating an entire industry even if they sure don't have the visibility I sure wished such a corporation would have in these here United States.

Sheesh, there ain't any White Castles within a good sixtysome mile radius (closest one's in Akron) but Starbucks are sure plentiful. I must admit that I abhor Starbuck's overpriced wares as well as the touchyfeely hippie vibes their self-consciousness just oozes, something which I doubt you'll find at White Castles which tend to draw some of the more everyday Joe types whose idea of a discussion about race would probably be about the daily double. At least frozen White Castles can be found in more than a few of the budget grocery shops in the area (you do know that Elvis himself treated his Army pals to a White Castle feast after having a ton frozen and shipped his way) so when the craving for one of those delicious two-inch squares of cardboard-thin patties with the holes smothered in little onion bits hit you know where I'm headed for...the freezer that's where and maybe if you weren't such a high-class cosmopolitan type you'd do the same thing too.